Former Waterbury Nursing Home Clerk Charged in Second Theft of Patient Funds

A former accounts receivable clerk at a Waterbury nursing home was arrested today and charged with overcharging the daughter of a 96-year-old woman for the elderly woman’s care and keeping the money.

VIRGINIA A. SOULES, age 46, of 22 Summer Street, Waterbury, was charged with one count of Larceny in the Second Degree, a class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. It is her second arrest stemming from her employment at Meridian Manor, a skilled nursing facility in Waterbury where she managed accounts receivable.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Inspectors from the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney arrested Ms. Soules on December 4, 2012, and charged her with one count of Larceny in the First Degree, after an investigation disclosed that she allegedly misappropriated $140,171.47 in patient funds.

The latest warrant states that between October 2011 and October 2012 Ms. Soules instructed the daughter of a 96-year-old Meridian Manor patient to pay her $635 in cash monthly to cover part of the cost of her mother’s care, even though the nursing home was only entitled to receive between $273 and $285. It is alleged that upon receiving the cash Ms. Soules credited the correct amount to the nursing home’s account and kept the excess, totaling $4,313, for herself.

Ms. Soules was released on a $500 cash bond and is scheduled to appear in Waterbury Superior Court, G.A. No. 4, on January 18, 2013.

The charges against Ms. Soules are merely accusations, and she is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case will be prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office.